Our Beloved Cat, Taffy

At 7 pm on November 23, 2004 we said goodbye to our beloved cat, Taffy, a darling feline companion of the last nine years. Taffy was one of the sweetest and most loving cats in the world and this site is a tribute to her put together by the people who loved her.

Please persuse these pages and come to know this treasured furball, as we have.

Taffy, The Shelter Cat

We adopted this lovely siamese cat from the North Shore Animal League, and she was already named when we got her (Candy, her litter mate, was named as well). Taffy was about two years old at the time. We got a kitten, Amanda, at about the same time and Taffy immediately took to her, treating her as if she were Taffy's own kitten. She'd clean her ears and lick her on top of the head. Amanda would curl up next to her, or try to kneed her, and she would just let her. This was kind of caring, loving cat she was.

Taffy, Hostess Cat

We called her "Hostess Cat" when anyone came over, because she beleived it was her job to twine around the ankles of visitors, especially newcomers, and jump on their laps to purr. Whenover our friend Cheryl came over, which wasn't often enough especially for Taffy's liking, Taffy wouldn't leave her alone. She's jump on her lap, rub against her legs, roll around in front of her, purring all the while. It was her nature to try and make people feel welcomed and loved. Cats too. Here she is with Dokuritsu and Savil trying to make sense of Sharron's new camera phone.

Taffy, The Dumbest Thing on Four Feet

She earned this nickname on more than one occasion. She sometimes couldn't find treats thrown to her, but when we pretended to throw it again, she was able to find it. Occasionally she'd hit the alpha cat, Dokuritsu, then look at her to see what would happen. Painful experiment, but she tried it more than once.

When we first got her she had some behaviour problems with the litter and Sharron got so fed up with her one day, she just carried the cat, dumped her in the litter and yelled "piddle." The cat did. After that, for years, Sharron made a point of walking the cat to the litter and making her use it. Sharron would yell "Move it, Soldier! Left paw! Right paw!" and the cat would follow her into the bathroom and climb into her litter box. Sharron would yell, "piddle" and the cat would pee. Every so often, when she needed to use her litter box, she'd go up to Sharron and cry for Sharron to walk her to it.

We store our pots and pans in a cabinet under the toaster and the microwave. One day we found Dokuritsu, the alpha cat, pawing at the door to the cabinet trying to get it open. "Stupid cat," I said. "There's nothing in there." I opened the door to prove it and Taffy jumped out. Normally the alpha cat doesn't care much what happens to the other cats, but Taffy was so lovable Dokuritsu wanted to save her. Even now, Dokuritsu seems confused and sad that Taffy isn't here.

Taffy, The Magical Healing Cat

Sharron used to get sick with an acid reflux condition that was exaggerated by stress and was severe enough to drive her into the hospital every few months. Nothing helped until she got Taffy. Taffy was able to soothe her and calm her so well, when she wasn't feeling good, that the condition abated and thankfully she hasn't been in the hospital for that in many years. That's why she got the nickname, magical healing cat. Whenever there was trouble, we would say "Taffy makes things better."

After September 11, 2001, Taffy was our rock of strength. We would hug her and she would purr, and no matter how long we needed to hold her or cuddle her, she was there for us.

When Jason's grandmother died, a wonderful woman who was loved by all of us, we again turned to Taffy for comfort and support and again, Taffy was happy to provide all the cuddling and purring we needed.

This is the first tragedy we've had to face without her, and we miss her so much. Even in this, she tried to comfort us. When we were with her, she tried to stand up. When she was nearly dead, she tried to mark Sharron's hand with her head and in her last moments, she tried to kneed Sharron's arm, which is a loving gesture for a cat.

Taffy, The Mush Pot

This cat would purr for anything. Look at her, she'd purr. Yell at her, she'd purr. Pet her, she'd purr. Grab her tail, she'd purr. Roll her onto her back, she'd purr. Sometimes we thought she was constantly in "purr mode" because she forgot how to stop.

Sharron used to roll her onto her back and rub her tummy "a belly-rub" or "a tummy-rub" and this cat would purr so loudly. She absolutely loved it. Sharron would just roll her back and forth on the ground, or over and over for a few feet, and she'd just purr, and come back for more if Sharron stopped.

She had a strong tail, and we have wheels on our kitchen chairs. Once in a while, Sharron would take hold of the cat's tail and the cat would take her for a ride. Once she got her tail free, she'd turn around and lick or mark Sharron's hand. She never hissed or scratched at anyone, ever.

Taffy, The Mind Control Expert

We always teased that Taffy had a secret plan to take over the world. She would do it be controlling people's thoughts and actions. She had evidenced this ability on many occasions. She's just look at a person with these giant, blue "give me a treat" eyes, and most often, she got the treat.

Whenever Jason would put Taffy on his shoulders, she would "do the trick", that is, lie across his shoulders and let him walk around with her. Whenever Sharron tried it, she would get Sharron to do another trick. She would walk down Sharron's back and Sharron would bend over so that the cat wouldn't fall. Then, when Sharron was bent flat-backed, she'd sit on the small of Sharron's back. I do have a photo of this I hope to put up soon.

She would only lay on Sharron's stomach when Sharron was under a blanket -- otherwise she'd sit by Sharron's feet (her "guardpost" we would say). So she would get Sharron to sleep under a quilt in August, with the temperatures hovering in the 90s or even 100s at night.

Taffy, The Cleric of Tuna

Taffy had a philosophy, called "the Zen of Tuna" and it ran something like this: any problem can be solved with enough tuna fish. To say that she loved tuna seems redundant -- she was a cat after all -- but more than any other cat I've seen, she loved tuna. She tried her zen of tuna at the end; the last thing she ate was a bite of tuna from my hand when she was too weak to stand up.

Taffy, In The Eyes of Her Friends

These are the goodbye messages from some of Taffy's friends. If you knew her, and want to write something, please e-mail me and I will post it.

Taffy died rather suddenly of severe kidney failure. She was in decent health on Friday, jumping on the table, eating her catfood, purring and playing. By Saturday she was having problems jumping on the bed. I brought her into the vet Sunday, and had hopes she would recover. Sharron and I thought it might be diabetes, which is managable. Then we heard the worst on Tuesday. The vet asked us to come in to see her again and we both took off work to spend the afternoon with her. We went home for dinner and when we returned he said she was nearly dead, and had no chance of survival. The decision to put her to sleep was the hardest either of us had ever had to make.

She leaves behind two loving mommies who adore her, many good friends, a litter-mate, Candy, a three other feline companions.